A Facelift For Your Anniversary?

It may not be the most romantic gift for an anniversary - although The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills would probably disagree - but that's what I've given The End of the World. Yes, it's been almost a year (on Monday, to be exact) since it was published, and I decided to celebrate it by giving it a makeover.

That book's cover has never been a simple thing for me. When I first started out I really didn't have any idea what I was doing. Then I learned the rules of what you were "supposed" to do. Then I threw out the rules and did what I wanted to do, which is what you see here.

The difficulty in trying to find the right cover for the book is as difficult as trying to categorize it. I generally list it as a contemporary fantasy, which, by strict definition of the genre, it essentially is. However, most books in that genre are nothing like The End of the World. But trying to place it somewhere else is nigh impossible, as it simply doesn't fit anywhere properly. And that, I think, is a good thing...except when you need to categorize it or need a cover that gives you some idea of what it's about.

The first one I liked, but I don't think it was particularly impacting. The second one was certainly more striking, but I think it rather gave off the wrong impression of the book, in that it seemed like an End of Days end of the world, rather than the creaky, cranky, somewhat freaky otherworldly inn that it actually is.

The image for this new (and hopefully last) incarnation is actually taken from the book's trailer. Since it seemed to sum up so perfectly what the inn should look like in that little film, it seemed rather inane not to use it for the cover. For me, that was The End of the World.

In other news, I read this lovely article on Gilbert and George in the Guardian today. It completely made my day. Interestingly enough, I've only ever seen one exhibition of Gilbert and George's work, and that was about ten years ago at a gallery just up the street from where I worked at the time (I went on my lunch break), and that was in...Beverly Hills.

Don't you love symmetry?